Food with passion: Smoky Spanish Hotpot

To thank me for hosting Colleague Cookery demo sessions on Zoom, I was recently sent Mary Berry’s new cookbook ‘Love to Cook’ which is a beautiful book.

I love to cook and I love Mary Berry as her style of cooking is my style of cooking, hearty, homely, traditional, family inspired but most importantly simple and delicious.

I adore when I get a new book taking time to flick through the recipes and getting inspiration for something new and what I want to try first.

With the change in temperature last week following the glorious sunshine, I was craving something warm and comforting and the recipe for Mary’s Spanish Hotpot jumped out at me.

In essence it’s a stew / casserole, one pot supper that’s tomato based with lots of smoky earthy hits from the paprika, saffron and chorizo.

Quick and easy to make, served with champ mash this went down a storm when I made it for Sunday lunch and it’s a new recipe in my repertoire I will be returning to over and over again.

The smells as this simmers away on the stove are simply delicious!

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

• 500g of Pork fillet steak cut into thin strips
• 1 tablespoon of runny honey
• 2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil
• 150g chorizo, diced
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and diced
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
• 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
• 2 teaspoons of paprika
• 2 tablespoons of plain flour
• 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
• Pinch of saffron (Optional as it’s quite expensive)
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 300ml of hot chicken stock
• 2 bay leaves
• Seal salt & black pepper for seasoning
• 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

Method

1. Place the sliced pork fillet into a bowl and drizzle the honey over it. Turn to coat and season with some sea salt and black pepper.

 

2. Heat the oil in large flameproof casserole dish over a high heat. Add the pork, I would suggest cooking too batches so not to overcrowd the pan as you want the pork to brown                       quickly. Once browned remove from the pan and set aside.

 

3. You might need to add a little extra drizzle of oil to the pan and then add in the diced chorizo and cook until nice and crisp. Then add the onion, peppers and garlic powder and fry off for a few minutes.

 

4. Sprinkle in the flour and paprika then the tomato puree and saffron. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and stock, give it a good stir and allow to come to boiling point then reduce the                     heat to a gentle simmer. Season and add the bay leaves and  allow to simmer for 30 – 40 minutes.

 

5. Return the browned off pork and cook for 5 minutes, remove the bay leaves and stir in the chopped parsley to serve.

Serve with champ mash or rice or even on its own with some crust brown bread.

This can be cooked up to 8 hours ahead and reheated before serving – this dish also freezes well so it’s a great recipe for batch cooking if you like to get ahead.

As you know I am a huge fan of one pot on the hob dinners and this recipe meets that criteria perfectly.

Earthy, smoky, rich in colour, busting with flavour and texture, this is a perfect comforting alternative to a standard stew or casserole – that’s a little bit different and special. I can’t wait to make this dish over and over again – it’s really delicious!